What Does 2 Chronicles 34:18 Mean in the King James?
Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, saying, Hilkiah the priest hath given me a book. And Shaphan read it before the king.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The scribe and the book share one root: the written record is recounted aloud, reaching the king as a voice.
THE MEANING
A written word reaches the hearer through another person’s voice. The book becomes present in the room as its words are read aloud.
THE ROOT
הַסֹּפֵר
sofer
GROWS FROM
ספר
s-p-r
Count, recount, tell, or record
The Hebrew words for “scribe” and “book” share the root ספר. The one who records and the record itself are joined to recounting: here the preserved words are voiced before the king.
ALSO GROWS
sefer: Book, document, record
סֵפֶר
This is the book Shaphan brings; it shares its root with the scribe who reads it.
saphar: Count, recount, tell
סָפַר
The scribe does more than carry a book: he recounts its preserved words aloud.
mispar: Number, count
מִסְפָּר
This branch keeps the root’s sense of gathering and ordering things into a record.
וַיִּקְרָאֵהוּ
qara
GROWS FROM
קרא
q-r-ʾ
Call, summon, proclaim
The Hebrew verb translated “read” also means “call” or “proclaim.” Reading makes the written words audible, calling them into the hearer’s present.
ALSO GROWS
qore: One who calls or reads aloud; a reader
קֹרֵא
Shaphan is the voice that brings the book’s words before the king.
miqra: Convocation, a gathering called together
מִקְרָא
The same root can describe people called together, echoing how spoken words gather hearers around a text.
THE PATTERN
A written word reaches its hearers when a reader gives it voice.
When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law.And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.THE THREAD
When all Israel is come to appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.The Hebrew verb translated “read” is קרא (qara) in both verses, a word that also means “call” or “proclaim.” What reaches one king here opens into a call for all Israel to hear.
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